This invention relates generally to safety restraints, and more particularly to an impact cushion for a seat belt latch.
Over the years, there have been some reported instances of seat belts having failed during automobile crashes because of impacts to the belt connectors. It has been found, surprisingly, that sometimes release-causing impacts are delivered to the belt by a passenger's body, particularly by the hip bone, that is, from the rear of the latch. Sometimes, too, buckles may inverted in use, exposing the rear of the latch to other objects.
As one can see from FIG. 3, certain safety belt buckles have a hinged latching plate which is biased forward to its latched position by a spring. The plate is supposedly released only by depression of a push button on the front of the buckle. However, slight impacts delivered directly to the rear of the belt can cause the plate to retract, freeing the male connector. This invention is concerned with the type of connector illustrated.
We have replicated such impacts by delivering measured blows to the rear of seat belt latches from Ford, General Motors and other makes, and can consistently release a belt in this manner. Having found that only a slight impact from the rear is required, we have deduced that it should be possible to reduce the incidence of impact-induced latch failures of this type by surrounding the latch with a cushion to reduce the effects of blows to the rear of the latch.